Page 28 of An Earl's Christmas Seduction
“Will you be joining us for a walk in the snow?” Amelia asked, for she was not about to be rude to Constance, even as Constance seemed intent on being rude to her.
“And catch my death of cold? I don’t think so, Amelia,” Constance replied.
“Do you have other plans?” Amelia asked, but Constance shook her head.
“I’m sure I’ll find something to do…reading in the library, perhaps. But I’m going to find Nicholas now,” she said, rising to her feet.
Amelia wondered if Nicholas wanted to be found, or if his absence from breakfast was an attempt at avoiding the very object now in search of him. It seemed Constance was intent on making Nicholas her own.
Amelia had no intention of purposefully making her jealous, but it pleased her to think of her own liaison with Nicholas in the library. Especially since it was the very room Constance would go in search for him.
“I hope you manage to find him,” Amelia replied.
Constance made no reply, sweeping out of the dining room, as the viscount leaned forward and laughed.
“Isn’t she terribly pleased with herself? She thinks she’s going to marry him and become mistress of this house. But I doubt she will,” he said.
Amelia looked at him in surprise.
“Oh, and why do you say that?” she asked.
The viscount narrowed his eyes.
“Well, he can hardly marry, can he? Not until he knows the truth about himself, at least. Is he legitimate? If he was, he certainly wouldnae have to stoop as low as Constance Kent, would he?” he said.
Amelia had not thought about it like that, and she wondered if there were those who thought of themselves as a cut above the rest of society. Those that refused to marry him on account of his possible illegitimacy.
An illegitimate earl would have illegitimate children, and there were those who would be shocked at the very suggestion of their daughter marrying such a man. Constance had seen a chance, and it seemed she was willing to take it, even as Amelia considered the thought of the earl marrying her as tantamount to a defeat.
“He can’t marry her,”Amelia told herself, knowing his affections lay elsewhere. Perhaps even with her.
But as to how Nicholas felt about her, she did not know. A kiss could be both a beginning and an ending. It could mean everything, and it could mean nothing. To a man, a kiss might be mere passion, rather than the expression of a true emotion, even as Amelia had seen it as far more than that.
“Are ye comin’ to walk in the gardens, Amelia?” the viscount asked after they had finished breakfast.
It seemed the whole party was intent on taking the air, and Amelia nodded, noticing her mother and Lady Turner were also preparing to step out into the blizzard. There was much wrapping up, putting on of gloves, scarves, hats, and anything else to protect them from the weather.
With everyone bundled up tight, sans Constance, the party stepped out into the garden. But there was another missing addition; Nicholas. The earl had not been seen that morning, and everyone was wondering where their host might be.
“I think it’s rather rude of him,” Clara said, as she, Amelia, and Isobel walked arm in arm together across the lawn.
The blizzard had abated, and though it was still snowing, the wind had died down, creating a constant fall of snow, adding to the drifts blown to the sides of the paths around the gardens.
“Perhaps he slept late,” Amelia said.
“He went to bed early enough. He was gone before we’d finished playing snapdragon,” Isobel replied.
Amelia smiled. She knew precisely what the earl had been doing, and with no sign of Harry, either. She could only assume he and Nicholas were engaged in some fresh speculation as to the object of the house party.
The party made their way across the lawn, sinking at times almost to their knees in the snow, and came at last to the headland. The sea was crashing on the rocks below, throwing up great surges of spray, and Amelia shivered, pulling her shawl tightly around her shoulders.
“I love to watch the sea on a stormy day. Can you believe we swim down there in the summer? You wouldn’t believe it to see it now. But on a summer’s day, there’s nowhere more wonderful to be,” Isobel said.
For a few moments, they stood together in silence, watching the waves crashing on the rocks. Amelia liked the idea of swimming there in the summer, picturing herself jumping into the water, and not caring what anyone else might think of a woman taking to the waters in such a way.
“I think I’ll go back. I’m getting rather cold,” Amelia said, taking her leave of the two sisters, who intended to walk the full length of the headland before returning.
The path back through the snow was difficult and the drifts were high. Amelia stumbled several times, almost disappearing at one point. The other guests had gone their separate ways.
